A corner of the meeting
room in the family dwelling of the Hancock Church - 1830

A
Brief History

~ooOoo~

In 1774 Mother Ann Lee, founder of
the Shaker sect, and eight followers traveled from Manchester to the New
World in search of greater freedom of religious expression. She
was herself strongly influenced by the Religious Society of Friends, or
Quakers. In their early years this new collectivity came to be
called "Shaking Quakers". This was later shortened to
Shakers, although the sect is officially known as the United Society of
Believers in Christ's Second Appearing.

The earliest Shaker settlements were at
Watervliet and Lebanon, New York; Hancock and Harvard, Massachusetts and
Enfield, Connecticut. As their numbers grew, settlements were
established in Maine and New Hampshire. By the middle of the 19th
Century, there were a total of 19 communities stretching as far west as
Pleasant Hill, Kentucky. Between 1850 and 1860 the movement grew
to 6,000 Believers.

The Shakers were
pacifists who avoided politics, theatre, strong drink and "vain
amusements" of every sort. They wore simple clothing, spoke
in simple terms, lived in simple surroundings. The ideal of
oneness with Christ, of the unity of the spirit, occurs continually in
their early doctrinal literature. Its effect on ritual, character
and workmanship cannot be overestimated. One result, of course,
was a tendency towards uniformity from which evolved certain standards
of excellence.

Sometimes confused with the Amish, they could not be more
different. The Amish turned their backs on modern culture and
progress while the Shakers positively sought out and made use of new
technologies, including automobiles. Although they believed that
humans were prone to sin, they also believed that people were
perfectible. Surprisingly, many of today's common items were
invented by the Shakers including:

Flat Brooms

Circular Saws

Metal pen nibs

Apple peelers

Chair tilter

Window sash balance and lock

Method for waterproofing cloth

They also made use of the metric system from as early as 1877 and
made their own wooden metric measures under license from the Boston
Metric Bureau. Even in modern America today, the metric system is
not generally used or even known.

Following the adage of "Harmony,
simplicity, order" we have selected pieces of furniture which are
as useful in today's modern homes as they were to the Shakers when
originally crafted.

There are now many living Shaker museums
remaining in North America and throughout the world dedicated crafts
people still recreate these beautiful and functional pieces of
furniture.

SUPPORT
UK CRAFTSMEN
- All of our Shaker furniture pieces are made in the
UK in our own workshop - we only import a couple of products which we
cannot obtain in the UK (despite exhaustive searching!).
Since we do not have the huge overheads of importing the majority of our
stock, we can therefore keep costs down while ensuring 100% quality
control. Support UK craftsmen who do what they love and love what
they do - you know it makes sense!